A feature of antiferroelectric liquid crystal (hereinafter referred to as AFLC) is that it possesses a large spontaneous polarization Ps compared with other liquid crystal materials. It is known that, in an antiferroelectric liquid crystal cell constructed with AFLC sandwiched between a pair of substrates, AFLC molecules are arranged in layers in the absence of an applied voltage, and whose structure is such that the spontaneous polarization is canceled between each layer. The AFLC material, which was discovered in 1988, was initially introduced as a material that can provide a mode that does not cause burn-in, a phenomenon in which information written before a voltage application persists on a liquid crystal panel, as compared with using the traditional nematic liquid crystal. Since then, development of antiferroelectric liquid crystal panels has proceeded in order to utilize this property of AFLC. Research effort so far has been directed to the development of materials having a large spontaneous polarization Ps and to blending techniques for such materials, to retain fast response and, consequently, the response characteristic has been improved greatly. However, among other characteristics, the contrast, which is the ratio of light transmittance between white display and black display states, still leaves much to be desired.